However….. (and here Paul puffs himself up like the ugly bald toad he is) I opposed Britain staying in the EEC during the referendum, against the opinion of both my parents.

And in 1975 I was only ten years of age – I had hair and everything.

Pain and agony – yes we all in for that, on both sides of the Irish Sea.

Maybe you should run for the Dáil, lead your party to a successful election win, become Taoiseach and then force through a bill (likely against the wishes of the majority of the electorate) to exit the EU under Article 50 of the Lisbon treaty?

The Irish people still need to learn their lessons on the EU, they haven’t learned yet. More time, pain and agony are required, unfortunately.

The people of Norway rejected EU membership – wise choice (the people of the Republic of Ireland should have done the same – ditto the UK).

And the Isle of Man is not a member of the E.U. – and nor is Guernsey and Jersey.

People from all these places do a lot of trading with people in the U.K.

So I ask again.

An independent Republic of Ireland, an interesting idea – when is it going to leave the E.U?

After all rule from Brussels is no more “independence” than rule from London.

An independent Ireland – an interesting idea, so when are they leaving the E.U. then?

I would point out to Paul Marks (as he is probably too young to remember), that the reason why Ireland became part of the EU in 1973 along with Denmark and the failed bid by Norway was that these economies were deemed to be so intertwined with the economy of the UK that they had no choice but to apply to join the EU during the 1973 ascension.

Given the investment made by the EU into Ireland during the 1980′s and 1990′s (as Ireland was the poorest member of the EU prior to Greek ascension in 1981) I would say that Ireland has done pretty well out of being in the EU although it is unlikely to benefit in the future.

Given the Irish constitutional requirement for a referendum on any major transfer of powers to the EU, this has given Ireland disproportionately greater bargaining power when new treaties come along than the much larger countries. In the event of an exit from the EU, they would inevitably be reliant upon the charity of the UK in future EU trade negotiations.

So in short, the Irish may have given up sovereignty to the EU, but this also allows them greater strength when dealing with the UK than might be possible on a purely bi-lateral basis.

I hold both Republic of Ireland and British Islands: Isle of Man passports, so carry no torch for the UK Government.

In the South (where Protestants virtually no longer exist) there are still rival tribes.

Which side your great grandfather faught on in the Civil War (the one of the early 1920s) still has a big influence on whether someone is FF or FG.

And that leaves aside S.F.

“Oh that Robert Heinlein – he gets everywhere”.

If only that is what SF stood for.

Sounds like a pretty apt description of the US today.

Surely rule from Brussels is no more “independence” than rule from London.

I believe the “special position” of the Catholic church was removed from the Irish constitution in the referendum of 1972.

If even a little village wants independence – and does not bother other people, I have no problem with that.

Still my (Jewish) father was just the same – a highly intelligent man who always fell for a hard luck story, and could never stand to see anyone suffer.

And the “Rednecks” do not measure things by money anyway.

If told that someone has a million time more property than them – their response is likely to be (if they respond at all) “so what?”

Which must be frustrating for leftists.

Very interesting analysis from Patrick.

By the same line of reasoning, if Bosnia had the right to independence from Yugoslavia, the Bosnian Serbs had a right to independence from Bosnia.